Book Giveaway and Release of my book, Buried Lives: The Enslaved People of George Washington's Mount Vernon

At last it is time to do the dance of joy and celebrate.  Yippeeeeee, Hallelujah!  My new book Buried Lives: The Enslaved People of George Washington’s Mount Vernon(Holiday House Books) will be released in a few days-on December 18, 2018. 

Released December 18.  New from Holiday House.  STARRED review in Booklist.
Enter the book giveaway at the end of this post for a chance to win a copy of
Buried Lives: The Enslaved People of George Washington's Mount Vernon.

It has been five years in the making.  Now that I think about it, it has been closer to five and a half years since the first idea for this book planted itself firmly in my mind--and more importantly in my heart.  At the risk of sounding melodramatic, when I take on a topic for a book, I live with the people I write about for the rest of my life.  

The people from Buried Lives I’ll carry with me along life’s bumpy road are William Lee (Washington’s valet), Christopher Sheels (the young man who took over as valet), Caroline Branham (housemaid), Peter Hardiman (Caroline’s husband who ran Washington’s mule breeding operation), Oney Judge (Martha Washington’s lady’s maid), and Hercules (chief cook at President’s House in Philadelphia).  Along with these six people, their families join me too. For some of them, I know their mothers, their grandmothers, their aunts, their uncles, their spouse, their sons, and their daughters.

While I’m researching and writing the book, the subjects of my book are never far from my mind.  I think about them as I figure out how to bring their true-life stories to readers in a way that is accurate and entertaining.  I think through the details of their experiences.  I ponder over them.  I put myself in their shoes so to speak-at least as much as possible.  The people I write about must be real to me.  If they aren’t real to me, they will never feel real to my readers--even though they were real people.  

I want my readers to find out what happens to the six people I highlight in my book.  But that’s not all—I want them to feel the hoe in Christopher’s hand when he was a child. I want them to feel the cold as Caroline lights the fires in the house during the winter.  I want them to smell the delicious meals Hercules cooked on the hearth.  I want my readers to see them as real flesh and blood people who had every emotion we have today.  And I want my readers to remember that someone else owned these six people.  In this case, their master was the President of the United States.

Along the way of telling about the lives of these six individuals who were enslaved at Mount Vernon, I weave in Washington’s changing views of slavery through the years.  By 1799, 317 enslaved people lived at Mount Vernon. Washington owned 123 of them, he rented 41, and 153 individuals were owned by Martha’s dower estate.   Near the end of his life, Washington wrote a will that would freed the 123 people he owned.  But neither he nor Martha could free the 153 people that were part of her estate.  This sets up a devastating separation of some families after the deaths of George and Martha Washington.  Readers will find out which of the six were freed and which remained enslaved.

Also part of Buried Lives is the ongoing archaeological dig in the cemetery for the enslaved people of Mount Vernon.  The graves, which are unmarked, are slowly being located and counted—while none of the remains are disturbed. 

In a few days, Buried Lives: The Enslaved People of George Washington’s Mount Vernon will leave my protection.  It will be released into the world to stand on its own.  It is my hope that the book I’ve written will allow six, specific enslaved people from Mount Vernon to step out of the fog of history and stand in the bright light of recognition.  I want my readers to like them as much as I do.   

Carla Killough McClafferty

BOOK GIVEAWAY

Readers, to enter our drawing for a chance to win an autographed copy of Buried Lives: The Enslaved People of George Washington's Mount Vernon, written by Carla Killough use the Rafflecopter widget below. You may enter via 1, 2, or all 3 options.

If you choose option 2, you MUST leave a comment on TODAY'S blog post below or on our TeachingAuthors Facebook page. If you haven't already "liked" our Facebook page, please do so today! 
In your comment, tell us what you'd do with the book if you win our giveaway--keep it for yourself or give it to a young reader?

(If you prefer, you may submit your comment via email to: teachingauthors [at] gmail [dot] com.)

Email subscribers: if you received this post via email, you can click on the Rafflecopter link at the end of this message to access the entry form.

Note: if you submit your comments via email or Facebook, YOU MUST STILL ENTER THE DRAWING VIA THE WIDGET BELOW. The giveaway ends December 21, 2018 and is open to U.S. residents only.

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It’s All in the Details

We at TeachingAuthors have been writing about giving thanks, especially as it relates to writing.  

Actually, I’m thankful for writing itself through the ages.  As the author of nonfiction books, I base all of my research on primary source documents.   I’m grateful that for hundreds of years, people have recorded details of their lives. Wealthy and poor people, famous and non famous people, generals and soldiers, mothers and fathers wrote books, letters and diaries that are gold mines of information.    

Not only have people written about their lives through the years, they and their families kept their letters and diaries.  When you write about history today, the details eyewitnesses record can make a nonfiction book come to life.  

To show you how details from life hundreds of years ago gives life to a book, let me give you an example from my new book Buried Lives: The Enslaved People of George Washington’s Mount Vernon.   

My newest book-released December 18, 2018.
NEXT MONTH THIS WILL BE OUR TA BOOK GIVEAWAY.  

Many years after George Washington was President and lived in the capital city of Philadelphia, his step-grandson, George Washington Parke Custis, wrote about those days.  In his memoir titled Recollections and Private Memoirs of Washington, Custis remembered Hercules, the main cook at the President’s House-and a man who was owned and enslaved by George Washington.  Custis was a child at the time and knew Hercules well.  Custis later wrote about how Hercules worked to prepare the weekly state dinner.   I write about Hercules in my book.  I quote from Custis who described Hercules as he worked in the kitchen in Philadelphia. He wrote that while preparing state dinners Hercules: 

“shone in all his splendor . . . . It was surprising the order and discipline that was observed in so bustling a scene.  His underlings flew is all directions to execute his orders, while he . . . seemed to be everywhere at the same moment.”  

George and Martha Washington raised her grandson, George Washington Parke Custis-who later wrote a book about his recollections of his life with Washington.

This detail about Hercules was priceless to me.  I was able to write about Hercules as a gifted chef at the top of his game.  With details like these and others, I hope a reader hears the clang of pots and feel the heat of the fire in the hearth as Hercules cooks.  My book is filled with details from eyewitnesses who wrote about events and I could not have known them any other way.  Using primary sources, I could write about Hercules and put a reader in the room with him more than 200 years later.  

In this scene in Buried Lives, I want contemporary readers to catch a glimpse into the life of Hercules, an enslaved man-who happened to be owned by the President of the United States.  

The written word is powerful.  If used effectively, the details of kitchen long ago can be a meaningful as the sweetest verse of poetry.   

Carla Killough McClafferty

ANNOUNCING THE THE WINNERS OF OUR BOOK GIVEAWAY FOR THE NEWLY REVISED

WRITING PICTURE BOOKS BY ANN PAUL. 

CONGRATULATIONS!  KAITLYN S. AND REBECCA A.

Next Month Our Book Giveaway Will Be:

BURIED LIVES: THE ENSLAVED PEOPLE OF 

GEORGE WASHINGTON'S MOUNT VERNON. 

(Starred Review In Booklist!)  

Listen My Children...

I’ve visited the home of only one author, poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, but it wasn’t on purpose.

I didn’t go there on a pilgrimage for Longfellow.  I went there to do research on George and Martha Washington.  The National Park Service operates the Longfellow House Washington’s Headquarters, a magnificent house in Cambridge, MA that has been home to both families.

Just down the block from Harvard University, General George Washington used the house as his headquarters during the siege of Boston in the early days of the American Revolution.  He arrived there not long after the “midnight ride of Paul Revere” and skirmishes in Lexington and Concord. 

Many years later, Longfellow, moved into the historic house that had once been Washington’s war headquarters and home.  About 85 years after the first shots echoed in Massachusetts that began the Revolution, Longfellow wrote the poem “Paul Revere’s Ride” with the familiar opening line, “Listen my children and you shall hear of the midnight ride of Paul Revere” and the equally famous line later “one if by land, two if by sea.”

The beautiful historic Longfellow House Washington's Headquarters in Cambridge, MA. 

These tiles surround the fireplace in the master bedroom of the house.  George and Martha Washington would have warmed themselves here.   

I can imagine General Washington climbing up these stairs after a long day of war plans.

Longfellow singlehandedly made Paul Revere famous to every school child in America.  But there are many historical inaccuracies in Longfellow’s poem.  Probably the biggest one is that the poem gives Revere alone all the credit for the warning ride.  But in fact, he was one of three riders that night.  Longfellow ignores the equally historic rides of William Dawes and Samuel Prescott.  Revere did not make it all the way to Concord because the British stopped him for interrogation.  Prescott made it all the way to Concord-but didn’t make the cut in Longfellow’s poem.

This poem is a good example of the power of the written word.  Longfellow was less concerned with historic accuracy than he was with creating an American hero on the eve of the Civil War.  The problem is that the general public believes Longfellow’s version is an accurate retelling of history.  It isn’t. 

Link to the Longfellow House Washington's Headquarters

Paul Revere's Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

To learn more about the myths of Longfellow's poem

Carla Killough McClafferty

Carla's website

Out and About with Carla Killough McClafferty

Out and About

I’ve been “out and about” lately.  How wonderful it is to get out of the office and into the fresh air.  A change in routine can sometimes get the creative juices flowing again.   

Are there places near you that you’ve been intending to visit?  I mean for years and years you’ve intended to visit?  I have several places like that in my mind.   One of them for me is Washington, Arkansas (Historic Washington State Park).  About a week ago I finally went there to attend the Jonquil Festival.  OK in full disclosure, I didn’t plan the trip.  My sister and her husband were going and invited me to join them.  And as an added bonus, my other sister went too. 

Washington is a wonderful little place about and hour and a half from where I live that is full of history relating to Arkansas in the 19^th century.  Have you ever hear of the Bowie Knife?  It was made famous by Jim Bowie-one of those who met their maker at the Alamo.  James Black, the blacksmith, forged his original Bowie Knife in Washington, Arkansas.   

 

Plaque on James Black's Blacksmith Shop where the first Bowie Knife was  forged.

Washington was also a place where many Native Americans walked through on the Trail of Tears as they made the journey to Oklahoma. 

Years later during the Civil War, Washington became Arkansas’s confederate capital after Little Rock was occupied by the Union Army.   

So much history has happened in such a tiny place.  It makes me think about all the powerful stories I could write about.   Yes, getting away from my keyboard is a good thing.   

The old courthouse in Washington, Arkansas

A massive magnolia tree planted just three years after Arkansas became a state.

Carla Killough McClafferty

Click here to find out how to enter to win 

THE SECRET OF STORY by Matt Bird.  

Amazing History

I write historical fiction. I’ve discussed before the many reasons why historical fiction is important, most especially these days. (Did you see my article, Doctor Who and Historical Fiction?) 


Our history is full of amazing stories. The artistic nature of historical fiction presents several challenges, especially in books for children. Events must be winnowed in order to create forward movement that leads to a resolution. Historical fiction makes the facts matter to the reader.

Historical fiction helps young readers develop a feeling for a living past, illustrating the continuity of life, according to Karen Cushman. Historical fiction, “like all good history, demonstrates how history is made up of the decisions and actions of individuals and that the future will be made up of our decisions and actions.”

David McCullough once said, “We are raising a generation of young Americans who are by-and-large historically illiterate…The textbooks are dreary, they’re done by committee, they’re often hilariously politically correct and they’re not doing any good. [But] there are wonderful books, past and present. There is literature in history.”

Through the years, I’ve discovered several resources that have proven valuable not only for research, but also about teaching history to young readers.

You’ve probably heard of these:

Teachinghistory.org is designed to “help K–12 history teachers access resources and materials to improve U.S. history education in the classroom. With funding from the U.S. Department of Education, the Center for History and New Media (CHNM) has created Teachinghistory.org with the goal of making history content, teaching strategies, resources, and research.”

“…good historical fiction exercises a child’s imagination through a vicarious experience. It leads children to use themselves and their own lives as comparisons to the characters that lived long ago and often, far away, to reflect on their own experience, to ask their families questions. It awakens awareness, perks up perception, sparks conversations. Reading historical fiction can lead a child to ask, “What’s my voice? What’s my view? Which side should I be on? Is there a right side?” – Valerie Tripp, Vitamins in Chocolate Cake: Why Use Historical Fiction in the Classroom? (2011 )

One of my favorite sites, the Zinn Education Project “promotes and supports the teaching of people’s history in middle and high school classrooms across the country. Based on the lens of history highlighted in Howard Zinn’s best-selling book A People’s History of the United States, the website offers free, downloadable lessons and articles organized by theme, time period, and reading level. The Zinn Education Project is coordinated by two non-profit organizations, Rethinking Schools and Teaching for Change.”


Important in these political times is teaching students how to be engaged citizens by learning their history. Colonial Williamsburg is one of my favorite resources where you can “connect with a community of educators and find the tools you need to inspire students to become engaged citizens.”


Presented by the National Museum of African American History and Culture in partnership with the Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello, this amazing exhibition asks the challenging question, “How could the author of the Declaration of the Independence own slaves? How could twenty percent of the population of the new United States, founded on the principles of liberty and equality, live in bondage?”


Speaking of amazing resources, don't forget to enter (here) our new drawing for a chance to win a copy of the Children's Writer's and Illustrator's Market 2017!

 What do you think? Do you have any favorite resources?


Bobbi Miller